AIR News

Hopefully bye bye Vision Australia Radio

2009-06-12T17:05:00.004+10:00

Been a busy week, no scratch that, been a busy 12 months, but the light is ahead of us and it is NOT an oncoming train.
What I'm talking about here is that I have been spending many, many hours at Vision Australia Radio for the last year, keeping their programming system running.
As of today I'm clear of the stations' Radio Appeal, and as of next week, just one meeting on Monday and then I think it may mean I'm outta there!
So, plans ahead are:

ROAD TRIP: Echuca, visiting EMFM, Bendigo visiting KLFM, Maryborough visiting Goldfields FM, Castlemaine visiting WMA FM, Ballarat visiting Voice FM, and then maybe a visit to 3APL FM Bacchus Marsh and 979FM Melton.

ROAD TRIP: Albury visiting 103FM, Walwa visiting RUM FM, Wagga visiting Life FM, Tumut visiting 2TVR FM, Young visiting 92.3FM, Temora visiting upcoming TEM-FM, Canberra visiting 2XX FM, 1WAY FM and QBN FM, and Goulburn visiting 103.3FM.

ROAD OR AIR TRIP: Port Stephens FM and 2CHR Cessnock.

AIR TRIP: Gold Coast visiting Jazz FM, Brisbane visiting 99.7FM and 96FIVE, and Sunshine Coast visiting Sunshine FM, Rhema Sunshine Coast and Noosa FM.

Anyway, weekend off. Over to Brad.

Sunday morning and threats of the blue screen of death

2009-06-07T06:25:00.002+10:00

I was getting up at 6am anyway, but the phone rang at 5:47. Newsreader facing the dreaded "Blue screen of death" - don't you love Windows?
Thankfully a restart got everything back up and running, the last time I faced that I had to go out and buy a new system to get us back on air on the day.

ROSTER TODAY

Got News coming out of Canberra with Thomas McCoy. Good to see you back on air Tom with assignments over. I'm handling Sport all day.
Debbie Groarke will be on board from 11 out of Goulburn, and the 2-5 shift is still undecided. Obviously if no-one pops up, I'll be handling it.

ADS
Finished the Montreal Theatre ad for Tumut, and still have a couple in the pipeline, one for Media Access on Vision Australia Radio and one for Port Stephens FM.

Week ending 6th June 2009

2009-06-06T06:11:00.008+10:00

Been a hit and miss week with one station gone, another signed up and another about to depart.
Pleased to say none of the losses have been because of a poor job by us.
GONE

Is the web radio station Sport 24/7. One of the partners in the service has departed the scene and the other partner decided to concentrate on his core business.

ABOUT TO DEPART

Is the Temporary Community Broadcast Licencee 92 point 3 in Young NSW. They have access to the airwaves for the first 6 months of the year and then they hand over to 2YYY FM. Hopefully as Arnie says "They'll be back!" - service terminates on June 30th.

NEW STATION

94.1 Jazz FM Gold Coast connects in from the 1st of July. A huge signal across the entire Gold Coast and into the hinterland. Currently organising access for them and developing auto-download scripts.

PRESENTERS
Very pleased to see a number of very good presenters join us of recent times. Geoff Turnbull in Tumut has been around Radio for years, Lee Baker is in Brisbane and is also one of the voices of Retail Radio (K-Mart), Samuel Corry is aboard with AIR Sport from Wollongong, and Kevin Somerville ex-Joy FM Melbourne and now based in Sydney is coming on board shortly.
We also welcome back Debbie Groarke in Goulburn. Debbie is a busy lady, and AIR News is more of a hobby these days, but boy she does it well.

TODAY

Well the weekend is here and I'm managing.
This morning Lee Baker is handling the News and Geoff Turnbull the Sport.
From 2 I'm covering the AFL and LIVE Sport, not sure who's doing the 2-5 News, but it may be me also.
ADDENDUM
Peter Holden jumped in for the 2-5 News.

Is this a busy day or what?

2008-06-16T08:18:00.002+10:00

Sunday the 15th June.

6am - midday on air 3MFM Inverloch
No Sports reporter this morning so backed up in the Sports chair for AIR News.
2pm - 5pm at Vision Australia Radio for the Radio appeal "afternoon of madness" with Gary Mac and Jane Holmes.
6pm Finalising production on 7 year anniversary radio spots for Wagga's Life FM.
8pm finished.

YAWN!

The Road Trip - the aftermath

2008-06-06T09:31:00.004+10:00

So much for a road trip!

Saturday the 31st saw me at 101.9 Wagga's Life FM with Peter Anderson, upgrading the Station Playlist software, and assisting Peter with some finer points of the software.
Following that it was on to Tumut and checking at the Farrington Court Motel right next door to Sounds of the Mountains.
Saturday afternoon met Kevin Turner at the station and had a short chat on air, that evening caught up with Peter Hlywa for a few drinks at the local Bowling Club.
Sunday morning caught up with Margaret in the on air studio. Finished up adding a regular voice over to our services, for the Montreal Theatre.

Left Tumut and drove to Canberra via Kosziusko National Park and Cooma. Lovely drive, great road for opening the throttle a little. Great views too.

Arrived in Canberra early afternoon and established myself in the Forrest Inn on National Circle. Was just around the corner from Artsound FM.

Headed down to Woden Plaza for a coffee with young Samuel Gordon-Stewart, before settling down for a quiet night in Canberra.

Monday, up for News duties and then headed over to Artsound FM on NSW Crescent in Manuka where I met up with Manager Chris Deacon. Got the chance to look over a really smart operation, and if you're a radio-head and visiting Canberra, make an appointment to see this great operation.

Next up was a run down Canberra Ave to Fayshwick and the studios of 1 Way FM. Met manager Tim Malone and discussed adding AIR News and Station Playlist to their system.

Following the radio station blitz I got the opportunity to catch up with our Sunday morning news presenter Thomas McCoy. We met at the CIT Restaurant on Constitution Avenue and had a chat for about an hour, before I had to make tracks to Goulburn.

Into Goulburn around 3pm, and met up with our new presenter Debbie Groarke, who'll be handling the new NSW State bulletins and possibly a Canberra bulletin each day.

Then it was down the Braidwood Rd, through Braidwood and Batemans Bay to Moruya where I was to be meeting the team from 2EAR FM.

Unfortunately received a phone call from my wife, Jacqui that she had suffered a bad fall and had broken her ankle and foot, so I decided to stop over in the accommodation in Moruya, get some sleep, fulfil news obligations first thing and then head south and back to Melbourne.

Tuesday morning left Moruya just after 6:30am, and went home on the Princes Hwy via Bega, Pambula, Eden, Orbost, Cann River, Bairnsdale, Sale and the Princes Freeway then the Monash Freeway arriving home just on 3pm.

Road Trip - one week out

2008-05-23T11:43:00.003+10:00

The biggest difficulty in organising a major road trip like the one commencing May 31st is getting people on board to cover the shifts.

Whilst the early morning is sorted out already and will see Pauline Myles anchoring the news with Fabian Antonacci as usual at the Sports desk, the mornings to mid afternoon will be looked after by Brad Shields out of South east Queensland, but beyond 3pm we simply don't know yet.

None of our news crew even look like they'll think about putting their hands up for the afternoons, so I'm not sure yet what I'll have to do to deal with it. At this stage the afternoons and evening capsules are all TBA.

It's certainly a big road trip with Saturday 31st taking me to Wagga where I'll be catching up with the 101.9 Life FM crew. Sunday should see me in Tumut, and then on to Canberra where I'll be visiting Artsound FM on the Monday. Hope to catch up with our Canberra based news presenters including Samuel Gordon on Sunday and Thomas McCoy on Monday, before heading to Goulburn for mid-afternoon.

I have a couple of options about whether to duck to Moruya late Monday for a chat at 2EAR FM on Tuesday as they're interested in taking AIR news. Probably not a bad option, and then cruise up to Sydney on Tuesday catching up with the people at 2SSR-FM Gymea, before moving on to my brothers' place at Balmain late in the afternoon.

Wednesday should see me at SWR-FM in Blacktown and 2000FM in Burwood, our current two Sydney outlets.

Thursday sees a run up to Port Stephens FM at Salamander Bay via Coast FM at Gosford.

Friday I may just enjoy the sights of Sydney unless something else comes up, with Saturday seeing wife Jacqui fly in from Melbourne and neice Donna's 30th birthday in Sydney.

Sunday and we will turn our wheels towards home. We need to be back by Monday afternoon so have a bit of time up our sleeves.

First though we have to get those shifts covered or I might find myself pulling up on the side of a Freeway to record news bulletins - only joking.

Don't know how she does it

2008-05-15T16:33:00.001+10:00

AIR News partner Jacqui Stevens in the news again. All for International Guide Dog Day 2008.

In the land of predictability

2008-05-14T12:45:00.003+10:00

The day after the federal budget.

It's amazing isn't it? Doesn't matter who's in government, it's always the same words, just different people uttering them.

This time it's Rudd and Swan, last time it was Howard and Costello.

HEADLINES:

As Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD and Treasurer WAYNE SWAN sell their budget today .. means testing the baby bonus and the budget's impact on inflation have become the major battlegrounds.

The opposition says the federal budget will increase inflation .. and Shadow treasurer MALCOLM TURNBULL has called Treasurer WAYNE SWAN a complete wimp .. who's done nothing to tackle it.

Opposition MPs have accused the government of leaving regional Australia out of its first budget.

Treasurer WAYNE SWAN says the government has kept faith with pensioners in the federal budget .. and will deliver more in budgets to come.

The opposition's deputy Senate leader ERIC ABETZ has bagged the Australian Industry Group for backing the RUDD government's first budget.

The Smith Family welcomes the 50 per cent tax refund on education expenses for low-income families .. but says it may not be enough for some struggling families.

The government has hinted a billion-dollar plan to ensure every student in Years 9 to 12 has access to a computer could cost more than has been budgeted for.

And .. accountants say small business gained little from the government's budget.

and oh yes, a man was shot dead by Police in South Melbourne last night.

Training Time!

2008-05-10T07:35:00.004+10:00

Spent Saturday 7-10 in a training session with Brian Portland, our new man on the Gold Coast.

Sounding good, and now just getting him comfortable with all the facilities on Cool Edit Pro.

Brian has been handling the Evening Capsule for a few days.

Neelu is looking at modifiying her shift, wants something different to the Saturday 11-1.

No live sport Saturday afternoon made a bit of a change.

Looking ahead

2008-05-08T16:19:00.010+10:00

Just in the process of organising another AIR News Road trip soon, with Wagga, Tumut, Canberra, Goulburn, Sydney and Port Stephens high on the visit agenda.

If you are with a Community or Commercial Radio station interested in what we have to offer and you're anywhere in cooee of the destinations noted above then don't hesitate to contact us.

The Road trip takes place from Saturday 31st May through to Sunday 8th June.
Saturday should see me in Wagga Wagga, to catch up with our friends at 101.9 Wagga's Life FM.
Sunday on to Tumut and 96.3FM continuing on to Canberra and Artsound FM.
I'm also hoping to catch up with our AIR News Canberra team, Thomas McCoy and Samuel Gordon-Stewart.

Monday still in the Canberra area, with the aim to visit ACT radio stations.

Monday afternoon should see me move on to Goulburn where I'll be trying to catch up with the crew at FM 103.3

Tuesday to Sydney and staying in the Balmain area.
Wednesday aiming to visit SWR FM Blacktown and possible 2SSR-FM Gymea

Thursday I want to visit some new stations in the Sydney area, and on Friday hope to drive to Salamander Bay to visit Port Stephens FM

Then on Saturday it's family time, with my Neice's 30th Birthday, with a southbound departure on Sunday.

All aboard!!!

Thursday 8th May

2008-05-08T15:52:00.004+10:00

Apologies for not being online for over a week.

We've been busy at the other end of Australia on a bit of Rest and Recreation, and felt the diary should not reflect us having a good time, whilst the rest of our crew slaved away over a hot news desk.

On that note I have to take my hat off to the following members of our crew who performed admirably over the week whilst we lazed away at Kirra on the Beach apartments at Kirra on the Gold Coast:

David Marchese - handled breakfast news on Thursday and Friday (1st & 2nd May)
Pauline Myles - covered the same from Saturday through to Tuesday (3rd to 6th)
Brad Shields - supported mornings and afternoons for the entire period including The World and the State News bulletins.
Fabian Antonacci kept us up to date with Sport each morning (Thurs/Fri/Mon/Tues)
Samuel Gordon weighed in for sport on Saturday morning
Craig Wright delivered the AIR Sports package on Monday and Tuesday (5th & 6th)
and of course my portable studio facility assisted me in providing back up for the entire team during the week. Thank you HP Inspiron, Telstra BigPond mobile and my great new cabling system from Jaycar.

It was great over that time to meet up with Brad Shields and family in the Gold Coast hinterland at Beaudesert, as well as Jess and Liam at 96FIVE Family FM in Brisbane.
We also met new AIR News presenter Brian Portland who will be delivering AIR news from the 12th floor of a Gold Coast tower block. Listen out for his dulcet tones, including this coming Saturday morning.

We also got the chance to hear how AIR news presented on 99.7FM at Redcliffe in Brisbane's Northern Suburbs. Sounded terrific, very pleased with the on air sound.

Don't forget if you're reading this for the first time, we do have a web stream of our own, delivering AIR News top and bottom of every hour during our working day.

If you're involved with a Community or Commercial Radio Station and you're interested in AIR News, don't hesitate to call us and talk over our rates and facilities. You may be pleasantly surprised.

28th April

2008-04-28T15:21:00.003+10:00

Monday breakfast News Headlines:

Austrian police have arrested a 73-year-old man .. accused of locking his daughter in a basement for 24 years and fathering seven children with her.
The Rudd Government's chief preventative health adviser says the federal government should also raise the tax on cigarettes .. after lifting the excise on alco-pops.
Treasurer WAYNE SWAN has warned home owners they'll remain at the mercy of independent rate rises from their banks .. because of the global credit crisis.
Federal energy minister MARTIN FERGUSON admits the carbon emissions trading scheme will possibly push up petrol prices.

Then just before the 8am news went up:
CANBERRA, April 28 AAP - An Australian Special Forces soldier has been killed and four other soldiers wounded in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan, Chief of Defence Air Marshal Angus Houston announced today. (Photo Sydney Morning Herald)

That led to additional monitoring of news sources so that we could get a feed of the Press Conference with the defence Chief, followed later in the morning by a Press conference with Kevin Rudd

Handover to Brad for 10am news out of Beaudesert, and back on deck for 1pm.
Had a good walk this morning with Jacqui and the dogs. This is an essential part of what I need to do on a regular basis.

Uneventful afternoon - always a good sign.

Sunday, almost managing

2008-04-27T10:05:00.005+10:00

An uneventful morning with Pauline handling both news and sport.

Headlines:
There's strong opposition to a new policy allowing expectant mothers to take out insurance on their unborn child .. in case of birth defects.
Teachers could be closely monitored on video cameras .. as part of a policy to help determine who deserves a pay rise.
200 Australian troops will be withdrawn from East Timor .. after security there says the country is now stable.
TODD MCKENNEY's been charged after he was found unconscious in a Sydney park from a drug overdose.

Breakfast this morning at Mocha Joe's Kingsway Glen Waverley.
They do a great Poached Eggs, and Jacqui loves the Porridge with Banana and Macadamia's

Brad is on this afternoon from Beaudesert. (Anzac Memorial at Beaudesert pictured)
Should be up there on Thursday morning all things being equal.
Concern at this stage with no-one rostered for the morning or afternoon for Thursday.

Saturday 26th April

2008-04-26T09:19:00.004+10:00

Great to get some sleep overnight. Nice and fresh this morning ready to kick goals for the business.

Headlines today:
China will meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama .. despite it blaming the spiritual Tibetan leader for a wave of unrest.
NAB has raised home loan rates .. announcing the decision on Anzac Day.
Hundreds of people are demonstrating outside a New York City courthouse .. after three detectives were found NOT guilty in the shooting death of an unarmed black man .. killed on his wedding day.
A study's found mothers who work to help pay off mortgages and cover household bills will be up to seven-thousand dollars a year better off .. from two Budget measures.

I've been covering the news and sport early through until 10am, and then we switch out to Adelaide for neelu to cover the News till 1pm, and I'll support her with Sport. Then, it's back in the Studio in the afternoon for me with no-one else rostered, so I'll be updating Sport on the half-hour too.

A good afternoon with the Sport, kept it nice and tight and pretty close to up-to-date with the AFL. Good win by Adelaide Crows over Carlton Blues.

No dramas. Steady afternoon, and everything updated on schedule.

Anzac Day - aaarrgghhh

2008-04-25T18:33:00.003+10:00

You know I normally like Anzac Day.

There is something about it that makes it such an important day on the calendar.

To be honest I think Brad and I did a great job of the news from 6am to 3pm and gave the whole Anzac Day thing a real mark of respect, but after that it all went wrong.

Why someone worked on an afternoon that he admits he "shouldn't have worked on", leaves me wondering too. But suffice to say the afternoon was a write off for our radio network.

By the way, Marisa Bottari did a sterling job of "The World" and the Capsule

Roll on Saturday

Carrying a torch

2008-04-24T08:16:00.008+10:00

Before we hit the news of the day, if you're involved with AIR News, don't forget to place your order for one of our wonderful new pens...

The big news of course this morning is the Canberra Torch relay. I get the feeling the media generally is drooling and waiting for the first bit of violence.

HEADLINES:

Canberra is under an intense security cordon this morning ahead of the start of the capital's leg of the Beijing Olympic torch relay.
Federal Treasurer WAYNE SWAN says the latest high inflation figures won't greatly affect next month's budget.
Bankers say it's bad news that the Australian dollar closed above 95 US cents last night .. because it could force the Reserve Bank to up interest rates.
The federal treasurer WAYNE SWAN says big supermarkets need more competition .. and wants to make it easier for foreign chains like ALDI to set up shop in Australia.

Well the torch relay has been generally uninteresting, which is probably a good thing for the torch bearers. A couple of incidents up near Parliament house but nothing too serious. I think the Fed Police keeping the Chinese "security" runners at bay has been excellent.

The crowds all appear to be rent-a-crowd, possibly by the Chinese themselves and I can't help thinking how much more exciting it was with the 2006 Commonwealth Games Queen's Baton Relay especially when Jacqui got her run (pictured)

As it turned out the Canberra Torch relay was a success, to the point that there was very little in the way of violence, and I guess no real story for a Radio news service to run with...on to Anzac Day

A smoother day

2008-04-23T15:59:00.004+10:00

From a news point of view and from an operations point of view, a much smoother day today.

No hiccups from either server, all news and sport audio delivered on time, from Melbourne 6am to 9am and then switched out to our Beaudesert associate from 10 till midday, then back in Melbourne for the rest of the day.

What an easy day. Tomorrow the Canberra leg of the Olympic torch relay.

Like our new magnetic Car Door badges?

What a difference a FAIL makes!

2008-04-22T11:22:00.004+10:00

Pretty steady day today at AIR News. Headlines this morning:
Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD says labor's 31 billion dollar package of tax cuts will be delivered in next month's federal budget.
A leading social justice advocate has pulled out of carrying the Olympic torch on Thursday when it travels through Canberra .. citing human rights concerns.
A new poll shows opposition Leader BRENDAN NELSON's approval rating has climbed into double digits.

Covered Breakfast news fine, and David Houghton gave me a short break covering the 10am.
Organised the 11am bulletin and just as sport concluded the upload our main server went offline. It's 9pm where they are and they're probably just undergoing some maintenance but it causes some problems at this end. Thankfully the mirror server continues to run and we are still delivering all our services.

Finally saw a return of service at Sixty6 Hosting, but unfortunately our FTP facility was still down. Should have returned to normal around 12 noon, but instead took till 3. Was advised by Sixty6 Hosting Support that it took three technicians three hours to figure out one setting that had changed and to correct it. Up and running instantly.

This proved the necessity of having a back up, or Mirror server. It meant that stations that were using our standard FTP automation PyrobatchFTP with our built in error checking had no problems with the system switching to the Mirror to pick up the news. Those stations not on our system and using their own FTP system had problems having to change settings. Well done Pyrobatch FTP. Watched it online at our 3MFM installation and at Wagga's Life FM and it never missed a beat.

By the way, do you like our new shirt design?

Back in the saddle

2008-04-21T16:20:00.000+10:00

Monday is always a bit of hectic day and today was no different.

The breakfast news headlines:
Australians will decide in two years' time whether to become a republic .. if recommendations from the 2020 summit are adopted
All school students will have to learn Asian languages if delegates of the 2020 summit have their way.
A leading economist warns the federal government will have to deliver an extremely tough budget .. if it's to avoid further interest rate hikes this year.
Monthly job surveys are to be downsized .. as a razor gang cuts 20 million dollars from the Australian Bureau of Statistics budget.

On till 9 this morning, then Brad took over from Beaudesert through until 3pm, but I covered sport for the morning.

Vision Australia Radio commitments today with Jacqui recording "Get About with Guide Dogs Victoria" radio program for airing on Wednesday night.
Featured Stuart Blair and Ian Finlayson from Guide Dogs Victoria.

Had lunch with Operations manager Stephan Kent, and discussed a number of topics including the radio stations' possible future directions.

Back to the studio at Glen Waverley by three, had headlines to get online, and covered the news and sport through from 4pm to 6pm as well as our Evening news wrap.

Had a call from Wagga's Life FM, problems with creation of new playlists this week. Turned out they had had a power failure earlier which appears to have dropped all the network settings. Finally fixed them and got a playlist produced. Took nearly an hour of fiddling.

Tonight, feet up.

Sunday 20th April

2008-04-21T09:42:00.000+10:00

Early wake up at the Kaloha Motel. Not because of noise or anything, although Jacqui did say she heard some young bucks fighting in the street overnight.

Went for a walk, and enjoyed breakfast on the Esplanade, sorry forgot the name of the cafe, but liked the attitude of the staff, "it may not be on the menu, but we'll do it the way you want it".

Had another good stroll on the beach, and then wandered up to the shops and spent a little on souvenirs fror the Grand-kids.

Drove out from the Motel, and headed down for a look around Ventnor, nothing's changed too much.

View Larger Map

Left the Island and headed to Wonthaggi where we stopped for some good Italian hospitality from Terry and Laura at Mezza Luna Coffee Shop. Very pleasant outside in the sunshine, enjoying their excellent coffee.

From Wonthaggi we took the Archie's Creek road up to Ryanston and caught up with John and Sue Cartwright at Legends Lodge.

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John, for those that don't know him, is President of the 3MFM Community Radio Station, and a former Guitarist with many bands including Normie Rowe's Playboys.

View Larger Map

More coffee and heaving bladders later, we hit the road towards Grantville where we visited the Vin Rose Winery. Vin Rose is just off the Bass Highway just north of Grantville and does a super Gourmet light lunch. A huge platter with Ham, Salami, Cherry tomatoes, olives, Avocado, salad leaves, Grapes, chutney and a variety of cheeses served with Water crackers and hot rolls. All washed down with their excellent in-house Chardonnay. All aspects recommended.

From Vin Rose, it was a quiet trip back to Frankston, pick up the dog and head back to Glen Waverley.

Excellent weekend.

Weekend - 19th & 20th April

2008-04-20T16:51:00.000+10:00

At last, a bit of R & R for Artie & Jacqui.

The opportunity to escape and breathe a little fresh air.

Saturday morning saw us drop off Starla (the little Labrador) at son's place in Frankston, and head from there across to Phillip Island for a relax.

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First stop was Caldermeade farm for some breakfast.

Caldermeade Farm Cafe

4385 South Gippsland Hwy
Caldermeade 3984 VIC
Phone: (03) 5997 5000

Now this is seriously good. For anyone exploring the tastes of South Gippsland this is a great starting point.
Artie had Poached eggs and bacon, seemingly standard fare, but the bread was freshly made on the premises and lovely and crusty. The eggs were almost Orange rather than weak yellow that you see in barn laid varieties, and the bacon was crisp and tasty.
Jacqui had some local Fruit loaf, thickly cut and toasted with Melted Ricotta Cheese on with strawberries and a sprinkle of Cinnamon with a drizzle of honey.
A couple of Lattes and the savage beast within was soothed.

Onward then from Caldermeade, south along the South Gippsland Highway and onto the Bass Highway, turning off at the Phillip Island roundabout. The roadworks south of Grantville caused a bit of a slow run, but once clear, no problems.

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Onto the Island via the Newhaven bridge and through to Cowes. We decided to organise accommodation immediately and we had done a bit of research the night before. So we arrived Kaloha Motel armed with a Wotif.com rate of $110 per night for a standard room. We met Yvette at reception and she gave us a great deal that put us in a largish downstairs room with a Queen size bed for $95 a night. This included cooking facilities (microwave) and plenty of room to swing a cat, or Guide Dog in this case!

The Motel we noted had direct beach access, as well as a solar heated pool, and with a temp of around 24 degrees, decided a long walk on the beach was the best option.

We walked along the beach, then along the Esplanade to Thompson Ave, the main drag, and along Thompson for about 5 or 6 blocks. This gave is a good idea of what facilities were on the Island, including restaurants, bars and general shops.

We stopped off at Infused, a Restaurant and "chill bar", where we took the opportunity to Chill out with a couple of cold Cascades.

Great service and very relaxing.

We found a Tex-Mex restaurant just a few doors down from Infused called Panhandler, which we decided was the perfect take away for the evening meal, but more on that shortly.

We continued our walk back along Thompson Avenue and I do have to say the town is coming along in leaps and bounds, plenty of businesses operating that simply weren't there last time we were there.

So, back at the Kaloha, we fed the hungry black labrador and then prepared for an evening meal ourselves.

Artie drove back to the Panhandler for the Take aways, returning with a Taco dinner and Chilli Con Carne along with a nice Jamiesons Run Shiraz from Sth Australia's Coonawarra.

The food was great, probably overfaced ourselves a tad, but we parked ourselves on a little table and chairs in the fresh air outside the Motel room and enjoyed our Tex-Mex. The Shiraz was nice and peppery too and washed the whole thing down nicely.

We enjoyed a further walk along the sea front afterwards and watched as the coaches roared down Thompson Ave and disgorged their loads of mostly Japanese and Chinese tourists into restaurants following the Penguin Parade.